Flamenco (Guitar)

It has been a standing joke in the guitar world over the last couple of years that there are more flamenco players in London alone than in the whole of Andalusia. An exaggeration, of course, but the fact remains that we have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity of hearing in person a number of great flamenco guitarists, including Carlos Montoya, Sabicas and the younger but no less distinguished Paco Pena. In the hands of these virtuosi flamenco has become almost equal in popularity with the classical method of playing, and promoted by this tremendous upsurge of interest it has become obvious to me that the brief remarks on the subject of flamenco in the Spanish guitar chapter of the original edition of this sites are no longer adequate.

It is the fashion among some classical Spanish guitarists to scoff at the flamenco style, drawing attention to the tonal and technical shortcomings of many of its exponents. Judged by classical standards there may be some justification for this view, but such critics would do well to remember that their own orthodoxy is of a comparatively recent origin, based as it is to a large extent on the work of Segovia over the last 70 years. Formal musicologist raised their hands in horror when the maestro himself first transcribed from the work of Bach and Weiss in order to build the classical repertoire.

However, there is little point in arguing the relative merits of the flamenco and classical styles. The true Flamenco guitar is lighter in build and action than the classical guitar model, two characteristics which facilitates the production of a higher degree of volume at the expense of tone, but essentially the instrument is the same. It seems to me that the basic difference between the two style lies in the fact that whereas a great deal of the classical repertoire consists of adaptations of works originally composed for other instruments, flamenco is a genuinely primitive art from which has itself, and has thus inherited both its limitations and virtues....

Strumming And Arpeggios

When the plectrum is drawn quickly across the strings all the notes of a chord sound more or less simultaneously. This is strumming, in which you will not normally be able to distinguish one note from another, but are aware of the chord as a blended whole. If on the other hand, you draw the plectrum across the strings more slowly, so that there is a definite time lag between one note and the next, you will produce what is known as an arpeggio.

The strumming, rhythmic style is the one we shall use for our accompaniments at first. It is therefore important that you should learn to strum with a regular beat, in order to make your accompaniment as rhythmic as possible. Try fingering the G chord with your left hand and strumming, counting an even 1-2-3-4 as you do so.
After the chord symbols- such as the C, D7, G we have learned so far - diagonal lines this / are used to indicate how many times the chord should be repeated. Thus the 1-2-3-4 beats on the chord of G which you have just played are written in symbol notation | G/// | The vertical lines are Bar lines. In the example here you be playing a four to the bar rhythm. You will also find that a lot of pieces are written in three to the bar rhythm, or waltz time. Three to the bar looks like this | G// | and is counted 1-2-3, 1-2-3 and so on.

Now that you are reasonably familiar with the fingering of the three principal chords in G, try the following exercise over a few times to get used to changing from one chord to another.

Play four beats to the bar, strumming:
||: G / / / | C / / / | D7 / / / | G / / / :||

The double lines and dots at the beginning and end of this exercise ||::|| indicate that the section enclosed by them should be repeated. Remember this, as you will encounter them often in the future. In this instance you should repeat the exercise until you are sure that you can hit the chords correctly each time and maintain a constant rhythm. In all exercise it is better to start off quite slowly, at a tempo you can manage easily without fumbling the changes. If the first part of an exercise seems easy, many students have a tendency to begin as fast as they can - only to come a cropper when something more difficult turns up later on. This is bad because it produces chopping and changing of the original tempo which robs the exercise of any musical value whatsoever. Go slowly at first, concentrating on producing a good tone and a full song. Speed doesn't matter at this stage. That will come naturally with practice. Maintaining a steady tempo is much more important.

Now let's try our fist folk song, GOODNIGHT LADIES, which uses the chords of G. The starting note for this song is the open second string (B). In fact, if you like, you can pick out the melody of the first two bars completely, on open string, by playing in this order. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 3rd. This gives you the notes equivalent to the phrase 'Goodnight Ladies'. Play it over a couple of times to get the idea before going on to the song.

STRUM FOUR TO THE BAR
BEAT FOUR TO THE BAR

This note
is open B.
|4/4 G / / / | G / / / | G / / / | D7 / / / |
Good-night, - la-dies,- Good-night,- la-dies,-

| G / / / | C / / / | G / D7 / | G / / / ||
Good-night,- la-dies,We're goin' to leave you now.-

You may have noticed that the chord of the song is G, the tonic chord. The tonic is sometimes referred to as the 'home' chord, because it is variably the one upon which a piece written in a particular key ends. Thus, a song played in the key of G will end on the chord of G, or one in the key of C, on the chord of C.